Wordorigins.org

actinium

Dave Wilton, Sunday, November 15, 2009

Actinium, element 89, was discovered by French chemist André-Louis Debierne in 1899, a year after the Curies discovered radium. Debierne announced his discovery the following year, naming the new radioactive element after the Greek άκτις (actis), meaning beam or ray. In this way, it is the Greek equivalent of the Curies’ Latin radium.1

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